A LOVE Poem

       Lately, I've been looking for a text to inspire the winter/spring session of Connecting, a meditation and spiritual growth group I facilitate on Thursday nights.

       In a recent  Speaking of Faith  newsletter (thanks, Dan, for forwarding it my way), National Public Radio's Krista Tippett recommends a translation by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy of a book by mystic poet, Ranier Maria Rilke - Rilke's Book of Hours:  Love Poems to God.

       Here's a sample of his work.

          I love you, gentlest of Ways,
          who ripened us as we wrestled
              with you.

          You, the great homesickness we
              could never shake off,
          you, the forest that always
              surrounded us,

          you, the song we sang in every
              silence,
          you dark net threading through
              us,

          on the day you made us you
              created yourself,
          and we grew sturdy in your
              sunlight ...

          Let your hand rest on the rim of
              Heaven now
          and mutely bear the darkness we
              bring over you.


       Fascinated, as always, by big LOVE - the LOVE we share and the LOVE we are - I ordered some Rilke, today.

       We have a text.